A west London v south London derby brings the curtain down in the 2018 fixtures. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton set the scene for Sunday and the first time this league season we face an opponent for a second time…
TALKING POINTS
Two of the three teams who have beaten title-holders Manchester City in recent weeks meet this weekend in London where Chelsea have won six of the nine Premier League encounters.
For the second successive road trip there is room for improvement on last season’s outcome. On Wednesday at Watford the Blues avenged a 1-4, the worst defeat of 2017/18. Now comes the chance to make amends for October 2017, when Selhurst Park witnessed the then reigning champions lose 2-1 despite dominating the match for long periods./cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62736743/914664792.jpg.0.jpg)
The Blues won this season’s meeting at Stamford Bridge, 3-1 on 4 November, Alvaro Morata (twice) and Pedro producing the fireworks. Andros Townsend briefly lit Palace hopes. However Chelsea are without a win in the past five away London derbies in the league, the longest such run since eight in 2012.Sunday’s two combatants have encountered very different experiences against their local rivals this campaign. Only Fulham have had a worse time than the Glaziers in the battle for London pride so far, while Chelsea’s record is only bettered by that of Tottenham.
This season’s points tally is the third best by the west Londoners since 2010, behind the title-winning seasons 2014/15 and 2016/17. Now it is all about the home run. The Blues were well placed to secure a Champions League place at the turn last season, but managed just 31 more points over the second half of the campaign. In contrast, eventual champions Man City racked up 45 points from their last 19 games, while Spurs gained 43, Liverpool 40 and Man United 39.
Success at Selhurst would also put the Blues into positive equity in points compared with last season’s corresponding results.
A great day! #chelseafc ⚽️ ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/zG9e2nDf8U
— Eden Hazard (@hazardeden10) December 26, 2018
Wednesday’s game at Watford was the 13th in which Eden Hazard scored twice or more, his goals numbering 100 and 101 for the Blues in all competitions.
The Belgian is the first to hit a century for the club since Didier Drogba in September 2009 and, with Frank Lampard hitting the same landmark in 2007, only the third over the past 30 years. The club’s first ever centurion was the legendary ‘Gatling Gun’ George Hilsdon.